Number Four

A Waking Lullaby

She found herself wrapped in a cocoon of vines; Bonnie pulled them from her body, black gunge smearing across her skin. As she stumbled from the bed, all at once, she was hit with the full force of her power as it returned to her in a tidal wave; flooding through her veins like electricity, igniting every cell and facet of her being, sparking it vibrantly to life. Ohhh, she had missed this!

The room she was in was cold and unfeeling; the otherworldly light and strange particles of the Upside-down filtering through the air. She recognised it- it was her bedroom in the Creel house, although she had never seen it like this. Disconcerted, she stepped over the coiling tendrils on the floor, going to find out what the hell was going on.

There was a cacophony of noise down the hall, the sound of struggles. "Steve! Nancy!"

Bonnie rounded the corner to see three figures entangled in the vines; strung up to the walls, inky-black tendrils swallowing them up.

"What the hell is going on?!"

Bonnie appeared at the end of the stairs like a figure from a dream. She looked almost half-dead- her skin ghostly pale, pulled taught over her bones; deep shadows under her eyes. Her red suit was ragged and worn, her hair an unruly tangle.

Three sets of eyes went wide with shock as they saw her.

"Miss-!"

"Four!"

"Miss Quatre!"

Robin, Nancy and Steve fought against the vines, struggling even harder to break free. Bonnie's eyes flicked over each of them in turn; frightened faces being swallowed by roiling darkness. She had had enough of this.

Reaching out, she grabbed one of the twisting vines. "Go. To. Sleep!" A surge of her power pulsed through, into the hive mind of the Upside-down. The writhing tendrils froze, like rigger-mortis; and then fell limp, unceremoniously dumping their captives onto the floor.

Miles away, outside his trailer, Eddie cried out, looking up at the sky, as thousands of demo-bats descended through the air... and bit the dust, crashing to the dirt around his prone form. After a moment, Eddie laughed in disbelief. "Oh, man. Oh, man. Oh, man. That was freaky."

Dustin was running over. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Eddie staggered upright, slinging his arm over the younger boy's shoulders and leaning on him hard. "A miracle? I'll take it. Remind me never to do that again. You'll have to help me back to the gate, I'm bleeding."

Creatures of the Upside-down stopped in their tracks, bedding down where they were and drifting off into sleep. The air itself seemed to still. Up above, the Mindflayer swayed and slowed. It was as if the whole universe has ground to a halt.

Removing her hand from the vine, Bonnie wiped it off on her trousers. "Much better." She was humming a little tune under her breath, almost unwittingly; soft and haunting like a lullaby.

Collapsed on the floor, Steve, Robin and Nancy coughed and spluttered, fighting for breath as they recovered from their ordeal. As Steve helped Nancy to stand, Bonnie asked one simple question. "Henry. Where is he?"

Nancy pointed up towards the attic.

"Oh, good." Bonnie said, mounting the stairs. "Because I'm going to kill him."

A/N: Eddie lives! Yay! (Subject to change depending on Season 5- if they offer me something better, like resurrecting him as Vecna's minion, I might take it. But that's a problem for the sequel. XD)

Ooh, Henry, Wifey's gonna come kick your ass. I'd be running. XD

Anyway, I hope the chapter is okay- this is one of the first ones I had planned, and it's been quite a while between now and then! (Can you believe it's been a year since I started writing this?! Literally, I checked- it's a year today!) Not sure the chapter quite had the impact I first imagined, but hopefully you like it. XD